The present invention pertains to a photographic processing system which processes a sensitized material by using an exposed film and, more particularly, relates to a photographic processing system which can process a sensitized material in a proper manner even when an instantaneous voltage drop has occurred.
Conventionally, a photographic processing system is widely used, in which photographic printing paper (hereinafter referred to as the paper) serving as a sensitized material is supplied from a magazine which houses the paper in the form of a roll, images recorded on a developed film are printed on the paper in a printing section, the exposed paper is subjected to a developing process in a developing section, the paper is then dried in a drying section, cut into individual frames of specified lengths and ejected. This photographic processing system incorporates a microcomputer which operates as a control means on electric power supplied from a commercial electric-utility system and controls such operations as paper transport and printing.
In the aforementioned conventional photographic processing system, if a source voltage supplied to the microcomputer drops down to its reset voltage due to an instantaneous voltage drop caused by a lightning strike to the commercial electric-utility system or overload conditions, for instance, the microcomputer will be reset when the source voltage returns to its normal level. Should this happen, the microcomputer would "restart" from an initialization process, detect a portion of paper already supplied from the magazine and judge that a paper jam status has occurred. In such cases, an operator had to open a cover of the photographic processing system and remove the whole paper in its inside to recover from the paper jam status, making the portion of paper previously supplied from the magazine, including already processed prints, completely useless.
The invention provides a solution to the aforementioned problem. Thus, it is an object of the invention to provide a photographic processing system which can process paper in a proper manner even when an instantaneous voltage drop has occurred.